March 5, 2012

LE CHEMIN DE RONDE (texte en français ci-dessous). In the heart of the Montagne Noire (Black Mountain), to the north-west of Carcassonne, the Saissac castle, one of the vestiges of cathars, stands on its terraces facing an exceptional landscape with Pyrenees mountains on the horizon. Just before the crusade against the Albigensians, the castle belonged to Bertrand de Saissac, appointed in 1194 as guardian of the young Raymond Roger de Trencavel, heir to the viscounty of Carcassonne. Bertrand de Saissac was famous for his intervention during the election of the Prior of Alet : Indeed, he had not hesitated to exhume the body of the defunct abbot and sit it on the throne in order to impose the election of one of his friends. In 1209, the lords of Saissac surrendered to the crusaders and were, for a time, replaced by Bouchard de Mary, then after 1234, by Lambert de Thurey. From that time on, the domain of Saissac was split up between several lords : through part of it was returned by Louis IX to the deposed lords of Saissac. Afterwards, Saissac was passed from one family to another. The castle’s fortifications were built below the village and stretch down below the foot of the Vernassonne ravine. The ruins of the keep still rise to a height of about twenty metres. Two restored rooms house a museum displayed devoted to the Saissac coin-hoard, made up of 2000 13th-century coins (one of the oldest royal hoards ever discovered in Languedoc). Music by Rondellus : « Symptom of the …Video Rating: 5 / 5